Corn-harvester attachment.



E. B. ARNOLD. l CORN HARVESTER ATTACHMENT.

APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 25, 1911.

Patented Aug. 22,A i911.

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` E. B. ARNOLD. CORN HARVESTER ATTACHMENT.

APPLIOATION FILED EEB. 25, 1911.

Patented Aug".` 22, 1911.

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ELIJ'AH B. ARNOLD, OF GENOA, ILLINOIS.

CORN-HaiavusTna ATTACHMENT.

Application filed February 25, 1911.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 22, 1911.

serial No. 610,879.

To all whom t 'may concern:

Be it known that I, ELIJAH B. ARNOLD, citizen of the United States,residing at Genoa, in the county of Dekalb and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Corn-HarvesterAttachments, of which the following is a speci lication.

This invention relates to improvements in corn harvesters and similarmachines, and has for its object to provide a simply constructed devicewhich may be applied without material structural change to nearly all ofthe various makes of corn harvesters, and which operates to sever thestalks just previous to their passage to the binding mechanism, or tothe receptacles or shockers.

With this and other objects in View the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction as hereinafter shown and described andthen specifically pointed out in the claims, and in the drawingsillustrative of the preferred embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is aplan view of a conventional corn harvester with the improvement applied;Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a plan view, enlarged,of the cutting member; Fig. t is a section on the line 1 4 of Fig. 3;Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional detail, of the reversible gear.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawingsby the same reference characters.

The improved device, as before stated, may be applied without materialstructural changes to nearly all of the ordinary makes of cornharvesters, and for the purpose of illustration is shown applied to aconventional machine of this character, and the machine thus employedfor illustration comprises a base frame including outer members 10 whichusually diverge rearwardly and are united to the main transverse portion11. The base frame also generally includes inner members 12 which extendin parallel relations, the base frame being connected adjustably to theaXle 13.

Rising from the forwardly converging frame members 10-12 are inclinedgather boards 14-15 and the chain supporting plates 16, the latter beinginclined at a lower angle than the gather boards. The members 14-15 and16 are suitably supported by braces from the lower frame 10-11 in theusual manner. A draft tongue,

lized as a means for transmitting the requisite motion to the parts.

The plates 16 support the usual carrier chains 21-22 which are provided`with the gather fingers 23--24 respectively.

The parts above described are of the usual construction and common tomany forms of corn harvesters.

The improved attachment comprises a circular body 25 having an annularflange 26 to receive a plurality of encircling cutter blades 27, eachblade having a curved cutting edge extending tangentially of the body.Connected to the inner frame members 12 are stationary blades 28-29under which the cutting blades operate in close proximity, thestationary blades and the ro tating blades thus co-acting to produce` ashear like action when operated, as will be obvious. rThe blades 27 aredetachably coupled to the flange 26 by bolts or other fastening devices30 so that the blades can be removed for sharpening or for replacing animpaired blade, and are likewise reversible in position so that they'can be mounted upon the body 25 to operate when the latter is rotated ineither direction, and thus operate over either of the blades 28 or 29 asmay be preferred. The disk 25 with the cutters att-ached is mounted forrotation upon a stud 3l rising from a bracket 32, the latter beingconnected to one of the frame members 12. The bracket 32 is alsolprovided with a bearing for a shaft 33 which carries a bevel pinion 34Cengaging with a bevel gear 35 connected to or forming a part of the body25. By this arrangement it will be obvious that the disk 25 is supportedfor rotation and its rotation accomplished by the corresponding rotationof the shaft 33. The ground wheel 2O is provided with a gear 36,

preferably a face gear, and engaging a 4pinion 37 upon a longitudinalshaft 38, the latter being supported from the lower frame `and carryinga bevel gear 40 which in turn to be reversed in motion when the blades27 are reversed in position on the body 25, and an improved means foraccomplishing this motion is shown, and consists in providing theforward end of the shaft 38 with a relatively long bearing 42 andarranging the pinion 40 to be mounted alternately upon either end of thebearing, the bearing being long enough to permit the pinion 40 to beengaged with the pinion 41 from either' side, as illustrated in Fig. 5.The bearing 42 is provided with means such as a keyway 43 to receive afeather, not shown, within the hub of the gear 40, so that while thegear is free to be reversed in position upon the bearing it will partakeof the rotary movement of' the shaft 38. The free end of the bearing 42-is threaded to receive a binding nut 44, and asleeve 45 is provided toextend between the washer 46 of the nut 44 and the hub of the gear 40.Thus when the gear 40 is located at one end of the bearing 42 the sleeve45 will be located between the washer 46and the gear, and then when thewheel is reversed in position the sleeve will be located between thegear and the stop collar of the shaft 38. By this means the gear will beheld firmly in position no matter at which end of the bearing it islocated. By this means it will be obvious that the cutters may bearranged to operate over either of the cutting blades 28e-29, or

changed from a right to a left handed operating device as may bepreferred. Thus when one of the blades 28 or 29 becomes dulled thecutter may be quickly reversed and arranged to operate with the sharperblade. By this means the life of the machine is materially increased.

The improved device is simple in construction, can be readily appliedwithout material structural changes to various forms of corn harvesters,and will eifectually sever the stalks in advance of the binding andshocking mechanism, and, being directly connected to the operatingground wheel,

will not require an abnormal amount of Copies of this patent may beobtained for cluding a circular body having a plurality of cuttingblades'uwith their cutting edges extending tangentially of the peripheryof the body and operating beneath said stationary cutting blades, meansfor reversibly connecting said cutting blades to said body and means forrotating said cutter member in either direction.

2. In an apparatus of' the class described, an axle having groundwheels, a supporting frame carried by said axle and includingV mittingthe motion of said ground wheelsy to said cutting member. Y

3. In an apparatus of the class described, an axle having ground wheels,a supporting frame carried by said axle and including spaced innermembers, means for conduct-ing corn stalks between said inner members, abracket carried by one of said inner meinbers, a circular body mountedfor rotation upon said bracket, said body having an annular flange, aplurality of blades reversibly connected to said flange and providedwith cutting edges extending tangentially of the periphery of the body,means for transmitting the motion of said ground wheels to said cuttingmember, and means for reversing the motion of said body and its cutters.

4. In an apparatus of the class described, a supporting frame,stationary cutting blades carried by said frame and convergingrearwardly, a body mounted for rotation upon said frame, a plurality ofcutting blades with their cutting edges extending tangentially of theperiphery of the body and operating beneath said stationary cuttingblades, means for reversibly connecting said cutting blades to saidbody, and means Y ELIJAH B. ARNOLD. [n s] Witnesses:

EVA V. MAT'iEsoN, lSAMUEL H. MATTEsoN. t,

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, WashingtomD. C.

